Poppular Videogame to Become Movie? High Risk of a Flop...

[Tendou]

Originally Posted by Gerbil the Sinner

I know. I asked what you defined as Expanded Universe.



But why is that necessary and not, say, introducing new plot elements specifically for a film?

The reason why I believe that EU material is necessary is due to most games not having decent stories in terms of movies. You could always introduce new plot materials and that is what I am getting at. I think the EU needs to be there as a base for the writers to expand upon. If you give the writers nothing to work with they can't craft anything good. The writers need a lot of material to work with in order to create new material that still adheres to the game's universe.

I don't think a movie should ever just be about the events that took place in the EU of said game. There is no point in just redoing a story that is already done unless it is horrible of course.

[Gerbil the Sinner]

Originally Posted by TokuNoob

Okay, fine. Point taken. Touche'. But then what? Is it a bad movie if a Shadow of the Colossus film strays from the source material.

Um. No.

I never implied that, either.

It would be I Am Legend set a sword and sorcery setting with no hope of success because Will Smith wouldn't be in it.

Except the story of Shadow of the Colossus is NOTHING like I Am Legend behind very, very few superficial similarities (or a core similarity; one man with an animal-like companion alone battling monsters) that are implemented in completely different ways.

Or is it a case of an unfilmable story?

...It's basically one giant monster movie.

I have to admit that I've thought about a Shadow of the Colossus movie before and decided that it should just be left as is (a game!).

In it's original state, maybe. But the core concept could easily be turned into a movie with modifications to fit the medium.

Like I posted previously, the idea of having a big deserted land scape wouldn't work for a film, because the audience wouldn't be directly involved.

People can't be interested in large, beautiful landscapes? What constitutes as "directly involved" to you?

I suppose they could try and make up for this in some area, and they do have the game Ico to fall back on in the case of an expanded universe.

Or they could just create story elements for the movie.

Other than that it seems to me Shadow of the Colossus is a bit of a risk. Remember, I walked into this thread expecting it to underperform (if it's even released theatrically).

Um. Okay.

If you were trying to come up with something original you would just have to take a previously presented concept in a new direction. If it were to be truly original, well I have no idea. :(

You're...not even saying anything here. I don't understand what this has to do with ANYTHING.

Oh, and by the way, I forgot to say welcome to the board.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Tendou

The reason why I believe that EU material is necessary is due to most games not having decent stories in terms of movies. You could always introduce new plot materials and that is what I am getting at. I think the EU needs to be there as a base for the writers to expand upon. If you give the writers nothing to work with they can't craft anything good.

You don't know that and that claim is completely baseless.

[Tendou]

Originally Posted by Gerbil the Sinner

You don't know that and that claim is completely baseless.

Actually I get this notion from movies like Street Fighter, Doom, Super Mario Bros. and pretty much anything done by Uwe Boll pertaining to video games. Each and everyone of these movies suffer from bad plots among other things. Due to the recurring trend in this when it comes to video game movies it is fair to say that the writers can't create a cohesive script. Plus if you look at these movies one problem is that none of them have any movie story worthy material.

Street Fighter is just a bunch of people fighting in the streets. They added in a "story" just for a way for players to progress through the game and ultimately extend replay value.

Doom is another game that has a typical FPS story. Nothing special nor deep nor complex nor anything else about it. Great game though for its time.

I don't think I even need to state the lack of story in Super Mario Bros.

I think these are fair observations based on recurring trends. That is one reason why there is such reluctance in actually creating these movies in Hollywood. We'll have to see how Prince of Persia and God of War do story wise since these seem to be the closest to release.(Prince of Persia is actually underway. Don't know about the status of God of War.)

[Gerbil the Sinner]

Originally Posted by Tendou

Actually I get this notion from movies like Street Fighter, Doom, Super Mario Bros. and pretty much anything done by Uwe Boll pertaining to video games. Each and everyone of these movies suffer from bad plots among other things. Due to the recurring trend in this when it comes to video game movies it is fair to say that the writers can't create a cohesive script. Plus if you look at these movies one problem is that none of them have any movie story worthy material.

Oh this will be delightful.

Street Fighter is just a bunch of people fighting in the streets. They added in a "story" just for a way for players to progress through the game and ultimately extend replay value.

Funny thing? Street Fighter DOES have Expanded Universe fiction in the form of backstory explained through guidebooks, comics, cartoons, etc.

By your logic, the second Street Fighter film (Legend of Chun Li) would be good because the writers have a lot to work with.

The presence of Expanded Universe fiction of any kind does NOT guarantee success or a good story. Good writing does. You're lumping a bunch of potentially talented individuals and potentially good films together just because you think people are instantly talentless if they have to use creativity.

You don't know what you're talking about. The fact you think Street Fighter proves your point when it, in fact, DISPROVES it shows this.

Doom is another game that has a typical FPS story. Nothing special nor deep nor complex nor anything else about it. Great game though for its time.

Doom was a bad movie because it was a bad movie. The game is a perfect template for an action movie. Adding characterization and storytelling that's at bare bones competency isn't something that requires a comic book or novel that happens to be in the same franchise.

I don't think I even need to state the lack of story in Super Mario Bros.

An early draft of the script had heavier use of elements from the game combined with movie original elements...that, for the most part, worked. You can find the script online if you look hard enough.

A lot of movies can get fucked over. It's a nature of production. It's also wrong to blame everything on a few writers tossing their hands in the air and saying "If only we had a game to adapt that had comics and books that tell us what to write!"

I think these are fair observations based on recurring trends.

No. These are over exaggerated observations based on a history of adaptations of works that are, for the most part, inherently plotless. You don't even BOTHER to take into account that modern video games do put at least the bare minimum effort in to create a storyline for their games.

That is one reason why there is such reluctance in actually creating these movies in Hollywood.

They didn't profit because they were bad movies. They were bad movies because the scripts were awful. The scripts were awful for any number of reasons...a lack of fiction penned in other mediums isn't something to blame.

Here's a thought. Did the first ever Expanded Universe writer for, say, Super Mario Brothers have anything to work with? Did the first Street Fighter EU writer have anything to work with beyond the core game? If THEY didn't...why would their work be required for a movie, which is technically Expanded Universe fiction.

We'll have to see how Prince of Persia and God of War do story wise since these seem to be the closest to release.(Prince of Persia is actually underway. Don't know about the status of God of War.)

I love how you're comparing games that had cutscenes and active plots to movies based on games that had no active plots.

[TokuNoob]

Originally Posted by Gerbil the Sinner

Adding characterization and storytelling that's at bare bones competency isn't something that requires a comic book or novel that happens to be in the same franchise.

For once I agree. Mortal Kombat did alright as a movie, but it had no EU (and if it did, no company bothered looking at it).